Funko’s Dave Bere Talks the Evolution of Pop! Yourself and Future Convention Plans

Funko has been a juggernaut in the collectible space for several years now, offering a wide array of items inspired by fans’ favorite franchises. Funko’s output was recently on display in a major way at Chicago’s C2E2 convention, with attendees able to buy exclusive figures surrounding everything from Marvel to The Simpsons to One Piece. On top of plenty of new exclusives and upcoming waves, the past year has also brought Funko’s Pop! Yourself program to their website, allowing fans to design and custom order one-of-a-kind Pop! figures inspired by themselves or their loved ones. 

While at C2E2, ComicBook.com caught up with Dave Bere, Funko’s Vice President of Pop! Yourself & Retail, to discuss the company’s biggest presence yet at the convention, as well as plans for future conventions in 2024. We also spoke about the recent expansion of the Pop! Yourself program, the company’s ongoing partnership with Mondo, and more.

ComicBook.com: Welcome to C2E2, first and foremost. I was at San Diego Comic-Con a couple of years ago, and everything you did there was amazing. How does it feel to bring something on that level to Chicago?

Dave Bere: Oh, we love it. It’s one of our first times here. We’ve never been here in this meaningful of a way. There’s so much good energy. We love our shows in Southern California and New York, but to be here, be where fans are, meet them. We have so many fans in Chicago, we have so many fans in Midwest. We’re so excited to be here, and you can feel the energy. We do things a certain way. We want to bring the experience, so whether we’re in Southern California or we’re here, you’re going to get that same Funko experience. And what I hope to see is that we’re here again next year. We’re trying to identify other shows throughout the country that we can go to and use this as a case study.

Do you have a favorite of the C2E2 exclusives available this weekend?

I love the Freddy, Franny and Proto items. It’s Franny’s first convention. But I love dogs and Proto is my favorite character, so that’s probably my favorite.

I did the Pop! Yourself experience this week, and it exceeded my expectations. It was so much fun. What has the response been like, in expanding it to the mass market?

It’s the number one thing fans have asked for. Before, we incubated the brand in our stores. It was successful in our stores and now bringing it online… Not everyone can travel to our store, so it makes it accessible. We did a lot of work on the operation side, to do what you just said, as far as being on a doorstep in five days. Whether you are buying it for yourself or it’s a gift, we want it to be reliable. But the response has been incredible. We have so many plans for the brand going forward, so it’s awesome.

I can imagine that something like Pop! Yourself evolves over time, as you see what accessories people are selecting and all of that. Are there any trends that you have been noticing and responding to?

There’s a few things. One, through our customer service team and our social team, we did a poll in the fall for ‘What do you want to see?’ And all of that information is going to join our assortment next month, which is going to be pretty awesome. So it came 100% from fans. I think the one thing we’re responding to in a positive way, and want to accelerate, is the gift giving behind this. We saw a ton of it during the holidays. It really surprised us, the volume we did, because of it. And then we saw it for Valentine’s Day. We’re seeing it for Mother’s Day. So how we approach the seasons is going to be unique for our entire business portfolio, but we think it can be really good for Pop! Yourself going forward.

It’s been nearly two years since the Mondo acquisition. How do you think that partnership has kind of evolved so far?

They’re so great. I mean the people first, they’re so great to work with. But we love it because they offer pop culture products that are different than Funko, they’re different than Loungefly. If you want a vinyl record, you want a poster, or you want a high-end action figure, we’re able to meet that need under the same portfolio, and leverage the synergies of relationships that we have. But it’s been nothing but awesome.

I’m a huge comic fan, and I love collecting the comic Pops you do for Marvel and DC Comics. I know you can’t say specifics, but are there plans on the horizon to do more comic-specific ones for Marvel and DC?

I think the answer is yes because I think I’ve seen that, but I’m not as exposed to that part of the business. But I do think that that’s coming. Yes.

Around the booth this year, you’re teasing your convention presence at San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic Con and CCXP. Can you give any hint as to what fans can expect from there? Is it very similar to this, or is it going to be evolving?

It’s going to evolve. But we love the idea of travel. We love the idea that we’re selling passports. That’s going to be a unique theme. San Diego’s obviously different than Chicago, and it’s going to have things that are very unique to San Diego, as an example. But we’re going to bring the element, so it gives fans a reason to collect the items here. There may be some similarities as we go to San Diego. You can get your passport stamped. Just an additional way to collect and follow us on this journey. You’ll see the same thing in New York too.

What is your personal, shoot-for-the-moon license that you would love to collaborate with?

Oh, it’s an easy one for me. It’s Nintendo. I grew up with that. I love it. I still play the Switch way too much, but that’s one that we don’t have. There’s such great characters. I’d love to see that in our portfolios someday.